Horzak Zimik from Ukhrul District, Manipur pedalled and traversed through Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur to reach his destination Ukhrul on September 17.
TFM Ukhrul Correspondent
Horzak Zimik a talented photographer and a content creator from Ukhrul District, Manipur undertook a solo cycle ride from Shillong on September 6, 2022 and reached Ukhrul on September 17, 2022 at around 12:15 pm.
Horzak Zimik was accorded a warm welcome by Chiko Adventures, friends and well wishers at Naga Gate and another warm reception at Kharasom Junction by Hunphun Katamnao Long and Luiyainaotang Youth Organisation and making the adventurous expedition more memorable.
Speaking to TFM, Horzak Zimik narrated his memorable journey. “One of my greatest fear in this life is to stay alone; be it during the day or dark and I also love adventure and travelling. So I put together those two things, the one that I fear and the one that I love doing, travelling alone. I wanted to overcome my fear and also experience a new wave of adventure as I move on with the journey. So I started practicing cycling in and around Meghalaya, be it long distance or short hilly distance. When I felt I’m ready, I pack up my things that will support life and comfort; food and tent. So you can say ‘The purpose’ of the whole trip was to overcome my fear of being alone. But more importantly, I want to focus on the idea of what I call ‘Trustride’; Trusting Myself that I could do it, trusting my bicycle to take me home, trusting my guts to be decisive, trusting the road to lead me home and trusting the people to help me throughout the journey. I wanted to experience how far and where Trusting will take me. It took me 693.5 km towards home with increased knowledge about myself. Through this journey, I know more about myself and broke the single story that’s been circulating around the society for a long time. We always tend to believe the first story before we learn about the other side of the story. It gave me immense joy to learn about the other side of the story after meeting lots of beautiful people on this ride. I travelled through four Northeast states on bicycle for 11 days with expenditure of only Rs. 3640.
“When I say Single story, I heard rumours saying travelling in Assam is not safe. Maybe I was lucky or maybe the rumours were wrong, I travelled alone through Assam without facing any difficulties from the people. In fact, I was treated well and good by the people from Assam. If I have to say, I’ll say travelling through Assam was the best part of my journey. The people were friendly and childish in a way. If I stop to rest near a town or city, groups of adult would surround me in amazement and would ask for a selfie. Since I didn’t know how to speak Hindi, I use sign language along with English most of the time. Some of them cycled beside me or even raced with me with their non geared cycles. I was offered milk, cold water, food and snacks free of cost. The smiles I get from the children in Assam are the purest smiles and the encouragement I got from the people made my journey a whole lot more interesting. As soon as I reach Nagaland, the response was different. Children hardly smiled and waved, adults don’t surround me and no more selfies. The only encouragement I got is from my online friends and truck drivers beside the road. But the cars behind me doesn’t honk until I give side which indicates a good driver or maybe they were appreciating me deep inside. The case with Manipur is similar, but quite better. I was invited for lunch several times and got water for free. Encouragement from the people starts again until I reach Home.
“My plan was to reach home in 6 days but since I faced some bike problems, reached home in 11 days. Even though I encounter a lot of troubles and difficulties, I didn’t give up and hence took me 11 days instead of 6 days. One of the things I learn from this journey is to never give up. Once you start moving, even if you encounter lots of difficulties and problems, even if it takes time, if you are determined, if you never give up, someday for sure you will reach your goal.
“Throughout the journey, I experience a lot of difficulties regarding road and climate conditions. Every state have their own way of giving me problems on my trip. When I moved out from Meghalaya it was raining heavily and even though the road was good, I couldn’t travel fast. When I started moving from Guwahati towards the Brahmaputra river, I knew the heat was going to absorb all my energy which it did. Assam’s heat drenched away all my energy and time. It took me more time resting than cycling which slowed me down on a large scale. If you move further away from Assam, you need no border to show you’ve entered Nagaland, the road speaks for itself. The axle of the cycle got bend, a spoke from the wheel broke and the front carrier broke too due to continues jerking of the road. I had to stay another day in Kohima to fix the bike. I went to Dzuko Valley after reaching Kohima along with one of my good friend Kaisu Walter who stays in Kohima. We hiked towards Dzuko for 4 hours straight before reaching the rest house. After spending the morning and afternoon there in Dzuko, we descent towards Kohima for another 4 hours. The next day, I made my journey towards Manipur and before reaching Mao Gate, the muddy and busy road almost killed me. I almost drowned in a mud puddle and was almost crushed by the trucks. I came to know I ran out of brake pad as I was nearing Mao Gate. I slowly drove towards Maram and then to Senapati. By this time, the brake was not working anymore. So I had taken a bus to Imphal to repair my bike since there was no bicycle shop in Senapati. The next day after repairing my cycle, I move back to Senapati to complete my journey. There I started my journey towards Imphal and then stayed the night over at TM Kasom Village. The next day I moved towards Ukhrul and after 11 days of cycling I was greeted with love and warmth by the Chiko Adventures at Naga Gate and Hunphun Katamnao Long, Luiyainaotang Youth Organisation at Kharasom Junction respectively. I successfully completed my trustride through the continuous support of my loved ones and the determination I followed from the start.”
Horzak Zimik paddled 693.5km, covering four states in 11 days. The young talented photographer started the adventurous expedition from Shillong on September 6, 2022 and reach his hometown Ukhrul on Saturday to complete his TRUSTRIDE.